A/N: Hello everybody! Ok I'll stop making promises about when I update because obviously I can't keep them! Sorry about that! It's just that I don't have access to internet anymore so I need to go to the library and it's quiet far away...

I'm still looking for a beta by the way for anyone who's interested, just email me! Thank you to all my wonderful reviewers, I hope to get lots more! Enjoy!

For those who asked, this is still a Draco/Hermione fic! It will eventually become an R-rated fic as well!

..~**~..

Chapter 13

Draco woke up with a start. He hadn't slept well the previous night, troubled by nightmares about Death Eater meetings. He turned to the girl lying asleep beside him and groaned.

Pansy!

For a brief moment, he had forgotten about her and everything that had happened the previous night. He had been trying to obliterate the images of what he had done to Granger as quickly as possible by sleeping with Pansy, but it hadn't worked. Granger's soft chocolate brown eyes had still haunted him and he couldn't help wonder what had happened to her after he had left.

No! I shouldn't be feeling this way! She deserved what she got! I shouldn't be feeling all this - guilt!

Ripping the covers off him, Draco quickly got dressed and shook Pansy's shoulder, waking her up.

"I think you'd better leave now," he said sharply.

She looked back at him confused and groggy from being so rudely awoken, but then silently grabbed her belongings and left, half dressed. She knew better than to argue with him.

After a hot shower and breakfast, Draco was hurriedly walking down the stairs to his first lesson. He hadn't seen or heard Granger all morning and decided, with a twinge of pain, that she was probably in the hospital wing.

Lost in his thoughts, he did not see the person waiting quietly for him in the empty corridor.

"Malfoy," Abigail greeted him coldly.

Draco halted in surprise, and then smirked back at her.

"You and I need to talk," she said, opening a nearby door leading to an empty classroom.

Malfoy's curiosity was piqued. What could she possibly have to tell him? He walked into the empty classroom wordlessly, but cautiously watching as Abigail locked the door behind her and turned round to face him.

She crossed her arms over her chest. "My intention was to talk to you last night, but your bedroom door kept me away!," she jeered with a hint of anger.

Draco chuckled to himself as he realised who had tried to enter his bedroom the previous night whilst he was with Pansy.

"Yes, it keeps nosy people from entering when uninvited."

"I could tell McGonagall or Snape that you used Dark Magic on it," she threatened him.

Draco narrowed his eyes. "No, you're not going to tell anyone anything because then you would have to explain why you were in the Head's quarters late at night."

Abigail shot back an icy glare. "Maybe that's because I was looking after a traumatised Head Girl!"

Draco's smirk disappeared at her words, replaced with a cold glare. How dare she talk to him like this?

"I don't think you remember who you're talking to!"

But to his surprise, his warning did not shut her up.

"Oh no, Malfoy," she spoke out loud and clear. "I've already told you; you can't order me around! I'm tired of your fucking games and now it's time you realised just who you're talking to!"

In a flash, she pulled out her wand. "Incarcerous!"

Completely caught off guard, Draco felt the tight ropes bind him and he fell back helplessly in the chair Abigail had summoned behind him.

"Now listen carefully to me Malfoy," she hissed, her shiny dark eyes staring daggers at him. "I don't know what game you're playing at with Granger, but I'm fed up with it. So just leave her alone because if you ever harm her again, I swear I'll hex you to hell and back!"

Once again, Draco was confused. Why was she protecting Granger? What did all of this mean? Did Abigail really work for Dumbledore or was there some other strange reason why a Slytherin would protect a Gryffindor?

"What's it to you, Serpent?" he barked back at her. "Why do you give a fuck about what I do to her?"

He watched carefully, as the dark-haired girl seemed to argue with herself about whether to answer him or not.

"You'll find out soon enough," she said quietly. "Till then I'm the one asking questions."

Malfoy looked down at the invisible ropes binding him and smirked. "Doesn't seem like I've got much choice, does it? So, what do you want to know?"

She paused, eyeing him for a moment and then she sighed deeply, her shoulders sagging.

"Look Malfoy," Abigail began, exasperated. "I just don't understand you! One second, you're supposedly friends with me, then you go and violate Granger! Talk about conflicting personalities. I know you hate each other, but for Merlin's sake, I found her in a state of shock, with ripped clothes and badly hurt. How could you do that to her? And how could you even think I would want to go and watch -"

She paused a few seconds as realisation suddenly seemed to dawn upon her. She opened her mouth a few more times, but then closed it again. Draco turned away from her piercing gaze, worried that his own eyes would betray him.

"You sent me to save her," Abigail finally figured out.

Draco shifted uncomfortably on his chair, although his face remained expressionless. After all, he was a master at hiding his emotions.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he stated sardonically. "Now if you don't mind I'm already late for class!"

With a simple spell Abigail released him from his binds, but she was far from finished.

"Oh come off it Malfoy! You know me better than that," she called after him as he headed for the door. "You knew I wouldn't agree with whatever the Slytherins were about to do to Granger! And so you sent me there to save her from Blaise. How very cunning of you!"

By now Draco was out of the classroom and strolling down the corridor, with Abigail hot on his heels.

"I can't believe I didn't notice you were using me before," she continued eagerly. "Since you couldn't leave her by herself, because Merlin knows what the others would have done to her, of course, you sent me. You had this all figured out, didn't you? You made it look like you were leaving her to a horrible fate, when in fact you came to me afterwards so that I could save her!"

Abigail's voice was becoming louder and louder as everything seemed to fall into place for her. Draco tried his best to ignore her and hoped that she would drop the subject, but she didn't. Suddenly, she grabbed his arm, forcing him to stop. In a flash, Draco turned around to face her, anger flaring up in his silver eyes.

"But what if we hadn't met in the staircase?" she breathed out.

As he looked deep into her dark eyes and saw her honest concern about the situation, his anger vanished.

Maybe, just maybe she would understand him. He took the chance. "Then I would have gone to the Great Hall or the dungeons."

His answer made her frown deeply, as she tried to make sense of the situation. He could almost hear the wheel cogs turning in her head.

"But why?" she finally asked. "Why did you want me to save her?"

He paused, lost for words, praying that if he kept quiet she would never find out.

Abigail looked up into his steel grey eyes. "Unless you -"

"Don't say it!" he told her sharply. He simply couldn't take hearing the truth spelt out in words. He expected Abigail to be angry with him by now, or even hate him. But all she could do was gasp.

"Oh Merlin! How could you?" she asked more to herself than to him.

"What? Have feelings for a Mudblood?" he spat out, although a part of his brain still refused to believe it. "I know it's -"

"No," she cut in fiercely, "how could you torment her like that last night when you have feelings for her? How could you have done that to her?"

She was shouting at him now and turned around to leave, but Draco stopped her, holding on to her arm with a vice-like grip. "Wait!"

He wanted to explain everything; tell her how in fact he had done it to scare Granger away. How it was a necessary precaution he had had to take before things got out of hand, like they had done during Snape's detention. How Granger's constant faith in him was the only reason that she was so persistent and so he had had to destroy it. How it was the only way to make her realise how dark and evil he truly was and that she was wasting her time with him.

And in the end, it didn't matter if they had feelings for each other because, even after everything that had happened between them, he was still a Death Eater and he had made a promise to kill her kind. But he couldn't tell Abigail. He couldn't say any of those things that crossed his mind.

For the first time in a very long time, Draco Malfoy was at a loss of words, his voice constricted by his troubled emotions concerning a Gryffindor! He couldn't explain himself to Abigail because deep down, he knew he was wrong.

Had last night been a terrible mistake?

Abigail shot him an evil glare, but paused a moment, expectantly awaiting an explanation that Draco was too confused to give. So he decided to change subject.

"How - how did you manage to stop Blaise?" he asked with interest. "What spell did you use on him?"

Pulling her arm free, she scowled at him. "I didn't hex him - he made me a deal and I had to accept. I'm his girlfriend again," she admitted deadpanned before walking off the opposite direction from him.

..~**~..

Two weeks had passed since the day Abigail had confronted him and Draco had admitted his feelings for Granger. He was glad the Dark Lord hadn't summoned him for a meeting, as he might have been tortured for his lack of progress with the Serpent books.

Getting Selena Serpent out of the Muggle hospital proved harder than Draco had thought, but the Malfoy heir had used the fear his name inspired to press the matter hard and finally the Ministry had relented. Abigail's mother would shortly be transferred to St Mungo's.

As for Granger, the Head Girl had avoided him as much as possible and spent even more time with Potter and the Weasel. It was virtually impossible for any Slytherin to approach her anymore, including Abigail.

The rest of the students noticed the increase of tension between the two houses, but no one seemed to know the reason behind it. Malfoy had made sure that the Slytherin students present the night he had attacked Granger kept quiet about the whole affair and for some unknown reason, the Golden Trio also kept the matter to themselves. Draco suspected Granger to have kept most of the details to herself, and he was glad for it. The last thing he needed was for Potter to tell Dumbledore. If Draco ever got expelled, he was done for; there would be no turning back on being a Death Eater or carrying out Voldemort's twisted fantasies.

Malfoy had spent most of his time alone or in the Slytherin common room with Blaise, playing wizard chess or talking about Quidditch. Blaise would mention Abby from time to time, and he seemed to have become very possessive of her. He had already punched every sixth-year who had tried flirting with her, regardless of house or name. In return, Abby constantly argued with him and avoided him as much as possible. The girl couldn't wait to break up with him, and had even tried to pay Pansy to sleep with Blaise so that she could dump him for infidelity. Pansy had categorically refused just to piss her off.

However, being with Blaise didn't stop the Slytherin girl from seeing Potter from time to time. Draco despised seeing them together, but he kept it to himself. He didn't want to anger Abigail as she knew so much about Granger and him, and he did still have the books to learn about, although he was sensing that the opportunity for that was slipping away day by day. He had seen her more than once in the library with the 'Boy Who Lived to be a pain', but as soon as they noticed Draco's presence, Abigail would leave as if nothing had happened.

Draco himself had done a lot of thinking during the time he had spent alone. It surprised him how much Granger seemed to have been affected by their encounter. Obviously he had been successful in shattering her feelings and she avoided Draco like the devil, but she couldn't avoid sitting next to him during most classes. Indeed, feeling the increase of tension between Gryffindors and Slytherins, most teachers preferred to pair them up during classes, for what better example was there than seeing the Head Boy and Girl together?

During the hours they were physically close, Draco couldn't help notice Granger's uneasiness. Several times during Potions he saw her hands tremble as she prepared the ingredients and her face seem to blanch each time they were paired up. She avoided all eye contact with him and kept the conversation to the strictest minimum.

Seeing her in such a state confused Draco. Did he pity her? No pity was an extremely rare emotion among the Malfoys, but he seemed to regret his act. Up till now, Draco had resisted all urges to go and speak to Granger to try to explain himself. It was not worthy of a Malfoy - or was that just what his father would say?

One day, as he watched her come out of the Great Hall alone, it seemed the ideal opportunity for him to speak to her.

"Hermione," he cried out to her.

Hermione? Draco mentally slapped himself. Why did I call her by her first name? What if someone heard me?

Fortunately, no one seemed to be around. They were quite alone in the corridor and it made Draco nervous. Granger, on the other hand, stopped dead in her tracks and looked at him surprised.

He walked up to her casually as he spoke up. "I think we need to talk."

He stepped up to her with confidence. "I think I owe you an explana-"

WHAM!

Granger's hand slapped him hard across the face. Draco, caught off guard, took a few seconds to recover from the blow.

"Don't you ever come near me again!" she said in a dangerous voice. He looked back at her trembling form, her clenched fists and narrowed eyes, and suddenly he understood. Granger hadn't been shaking with fear when she was around him during these past two weeks. She was shaking because of her rage, because of all the anger she had accumulated since that night. She had been too shocked to react then; everything had gone by so quickly, she hadn't had time to express her anger. But she was doing it now; Draco had provoked it once again.

She looked up at him defiantly, her chocolate eyes void of any emotion but pure wrath. It made Draco even more eager to talk to her and make her understand his reasons.

"Hermione, listen to me!" he began, stepping closer to her.

But she backed away and pulled her wand out. "Give me one good reason Malfoy and I swear I'll hex you to oblivion!" she threatened him.

Draco backed off at her words. "Hermione, I warned you. I warned you during detention with Snape, I showed you what I was capable! But still you went on about your feelings and -"

"And what?" she butt in. "You thought humiliating me in front of all your friends would solve the problem! You coward! I admitted how I felt about you and you got scared - but instead of accepting it like any other teenager, you violated me!"

"Of course I did! That's who I am!" Draco argued back. "A Death Eater!"

"No, you're not!" Hermione continued in disgust. "You hate being branded like some animal to serve a Half-Blood. You even hate the fact that every day you look more and more like your father. But when people try to help you, still you push them away, scared of joining the other side, scared of the goddamn consequences! Just take the risk Draco before it's too late and before Voldemort leads you to certain death."

She wasn't shouting anymore and Draco looked down at her in disbelief. How did she know all this about him? Was he that easy to read?

Draco's eyes seemed to open at last and he realised the truth in Hermione's words. He realised her faith in him was still there, regardless of the pain he had caused her. It was like last year all over again, when she tried to steer him away from the path of becoming a Death Eater and instead, they would endlessly bicker about the war, Dumbledore, Voldemort, Potter...

Unconsciously, he had fallen for her last year. She was supposed to be a boring bookworm, a filthy Mudblood, but Hermione Granger wasn't. She was witty, intelligent, beautiful, funny and ever so loyal and persistent. She was a true Gryffindor in the end.

For the first time that year Draco genuinely smiled at her. His smile was one of gratitude and apology. Apology for everything he had done to her because he couldn't stand hearing the truth. He was simply scared in the end, scared of what might happen if he left Hogwarts, scared of what might happen if he continued to be a Death-Eater, scared of the consequences if he took his destiny in his own hands and became his own master.

She was right; he was a coward. He looked into her soft brown eyes intently and she simply stared wide-eyed back at him as he smiled. He should have told her how right she was, how sorry he was and how much he had missed her presence, her smile, her scent and her touch, but they were interrupted.

"Get the hell away from her!" someone yelled behind him, before pushing him away from Hermione.

Draco's face fell back into an expressionless one as he turned to face his attacker.

A very angry Potter stared back at him.

..~**~..

Next chapter Hermione's POV, will she be forgiving? confrontation between Draco and Harry! You shall find out soon...

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